


Soulmates

by fansofsuchandsuch



Series: Soulmate AU [1]
Category: One of Us Is Lying - Karen M. McManus
Genre: Bronwyn/Nate, F/M, One of us is lying, oouil
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-13
Updated: 2019-01-13
Packaged: 2019-10-09 18:08:35
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,518
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17411693
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/fansofsuchandsuch/pseuds/fansofsuchandsuch
Summary: What happens when the soulmate tattooed words on your arm are common phrases shared between strangers? Well, this happens.





	Soulmates

**Author's Note:**

> The soulmate AU literally nobody asked for but what needed to happen. Also known as the writers block that hit me for two months. -S

Everyone, absolutely everyone, is born with a soulmate. Everyone is born with a soul-mark as well, a tattoo of what their soulmate's first words to them will be. You've heard the stories, you know how the system works, but what happens when there's a problem in the system? A glaring flaw in the system that nobody seems to want to talk about or even acknowledge. A flaw that could tear apart soulmates forever and bring the wrong people together.

What if multiple people say the words that are written on your arm?

It's as simple as that. The tattoos are not formed to anybody's handwriting, they are written in the same font for everybody because fate should not be so kind to us. So, what if multiple people say the words written on your arm?

Now, sometimes the universe is nice and puts blatantly obvious phrases on people's arms like 'you asshole! That was mine!' or 'You know my sister, right?' But what about the phrases passed between strangers all the time, what about the 'hey, what's up' 's shared or the simple greetings of 'hello'. Then there's no certainty to who is your soulmate after all. 

That's what Nate has been saying all of his life to anyone who would listen, and of course that would only be his friends Addy and Cooper. Everyone else ignores the issue, either not mentioning it or saying a simple "you'll know" as a response. That answer was never sufficient enough for Nate, who theorized about this his whole entire life up to this point. Addy always would tell him to shut up about it, in front of people that is, but when they're alone in their late night sleepovers, she would engage in the conversation and exchange theories. Addy hadn't met her soulmate yet, but she was one of the lucky ones with the hard-to-miss-phrase: 'Purple hair, huh, so what're you getting over?'

Cooper was worse, though, having already met his soulmate when he was sixteen. While he also indulged in the theories, and in Nate, he was one of those "if you know you'd know" kind of people. Anyways, Nate didn't talk to him much about it because Coop's boyfriend, Kris, seemed to always be there. Nate liked Kris, don't get him wrong, but nobody really understood what it was like, how important the discussion was for him, especially not two dudes who's phrases are 'Nice arm, is pitching your only skill?' and 'Wait, was that a pickup line or a simple compliment?' And while he loved Addy like a sister, she would never understand either.

Nobody would understand how upsetting it was to read those simple words in kindergarten, or how disappointing it was, is, every time he got his hopes up in the past. Those seven words that made him start questioning soulmates in general, wondering what he should do, if he should even try with one?

'Hi, Nate, it's nice to meet you.'

Yes, it was a typical response to any greeting ever, and it would run through Nate's head at any hour of the day. Hundreds of people have said that to him in his nineteen years of life, and while he would immediately disregard the older friends of his parents or his teacher's saying it, any kid his age was fair game. The only hope he would ever have is the other person's mark, if his words would match theirs, and even then he had to wonder if the person was his soulmate or if it was just another polite phrase used a hundred times over. He had dealt with the latter, going on many dates already with anyone whose phrase could be a response to his, but the whispering was always in the back of his head.

There was never any second dates.

It sucked, to say the least, that he would never know for absolutely sure who is supposed to be his soulmate. He supposed he could just fuck the system and choose who his soulmate is, but nobody ever shared in that theory. They wanted the futures promised to them, to everyone. They were not fans of making their own, so Nate stopped trying. He wouldn't get his hopes up, he would pretend not to care when the other person said the words written on his arm, he would pretend not to care when their eyes widened as he may have said theirs. He would act uninterested and they would believe it wasn't him, just someone else in the seemingly never-ending pile, and he would go home alone again to his room to theorize for a solution. There has yet to be one he discovered.

And while Nate has given up hope, at least publicly, his friends haven't. Coop drags him to the parties at his college and introduces him to everyone, but it's useless. Either they don't say the phrase, he doesn't say theirs, or they're uninterested. Addy is no better, though, she takes him everywhere to meet people, going as far as to drive to her college parties which are two hours from his. It never works, but they don't stop trying.

Which is why he is here tonight, at one of their combined parties they have heard about, sipping his drink in the corner refusing to talk to anyone. The good part about these parties though is that Addy and Cooper leave ten minutes in to chat with some other friends and by half an hour, Nate can slip out the door and go back home. He's just counting down the minutes now till he can leave, which is eight. Pulling out his phone to distract him from the bad music and annoying people, Nate opens every social media about five times each before settling on Tumblr. As he scrolls through his blog, he faintly hears the door being opened and people cheering, drunkenly of course. Nate glances up and sees a group of people entering and as he's about to look back down, ready to leave, he sees her.

Brown hair, gray, startling eyes that stopped his breathing when they caught his. She was wearing a plaid skirt with a black sweater tucked into it and a scarf. Nate couldn't take his eyes off of her, gazing up and down at this girl before meeting the gray gaze she also held on him. Something about her was different, and Nate was going to find out what it was.

He set the drink down and put his phone away and began to move towards her. As he does, without taking his eyes off her except to make sure he wasn't charging into anyone, she glances down with a faint smile and a blush appearing as the girl who's next to her talks to no one other than Addy and Cooper. Nate makes his way through the crowd with ease, and once he walks up to them, he faintly hears Coop telling the girl "and this is Nate" but he pays no mind. He instantly holds out his hand and she takes it with a laugh, one that sends shivers up Nate's spine, and he can't help but smile.

"It is _very_ nice to meet you." Nate says, shaking her hand before bringing it up to his lips with a kiss. He doesn't think she would let him do that, honestly he was expecting her to hit him, but instead she just grins and takes her hand back after a second.

"Hey, Nate, it's nice to meet you, too." She responds. A second stops, and Nate can hear what's wrong, he can hear the extra word added to the phrase, and for once in his life he _starts_ to care. Not about her not being his soulmate, but about her, just her. He doesn't shy away, he doesn't pretend to be uninterested in her, and he just continues to smile. "You just said the words that are tattooed on me."

"Well, then, soulmate, I should hear your name." And with that, that small lie, her face brightens and they talk for the rest of the night. Her name is Bronwyn Rojas, she lived in California before moving to Connecticut for college. She has a sister, a well-off family, and she's from the school where a student attempted to commit suicide using his allergy that was national news for a week. She loves reading, was involved in every extracurricular you can think of, and plans to do the same thing in college. But most of all, she forgets to ask Nate to see his soul-mark, and just takes his word for it. Nate feels a bit guilty about it at first but as the night goes on, he can't think about anything other than this girl being the one meant for him, fate be damned. At the end of the night, they exchange numbers, and plan to go out on a date the next day. For once, Nate goes home with a smile on his face and butterflies in his stomach, and doesn't see any way this feeling could end.


End file.
